The Berlingo Electric does away with the usual diesel engine and instead features a combination of permanent magnet synchronous 49kW electric motor and a 22.5kWh lithium ion battery pack. This gives the Berlingo Electric the potential for up to 106 miles, as tested on the New European Drive Cycle although in real terms you’re probably looking at around 70 miles reliably.

According to the website of http://www.metal-pages.com, the prices of rare earth metals continue to fall. In this week, the neodymium price is about $79/kg, which is at the level of February 2011; and the dysprosium price is about $660/kg, which is at the level of April 2011.

Hitachi Metals, Ltd. (TOKYO : 5486) (ISIN : JP3786200000) announced today that Yantai Zhenghai Magnetic Material Co., Ltd. (Yantai Zhenghai), Anhui Earth-Panda Advance Magnetic Material Co., Ltd. (Anhui Earth-Panda), and Ningbo Jinji Strong Magnetic Material Co., Ltd. (Ningbo Jinji) recently entered into settlement agreements with Hitachi Metals.Yantai Zhenghai, Anhui Earth-Panda and Ningbo Jinji have entered into settlement agreements with Hitachi Metals pursuant to which an investigation now pending before the United States.International TradeCommission (ITC) against Yantai Zhenghai, Anhui Earth-Panda and Ningbo Jinji for infringement of certain Hitachi Metals U.S. Patents by their sale into the United States of certain sintered Nd-Fe-B magnets will be terminated against those parties. Under the terms of the settlement, Yantai Zhenghai, Anhui Earth-Panda and Ningbo Jinji have become authorized to sell their sintered rare earth magnets in the United States, among certain other authorized territories, in return for the payment of certain fees to Hitachi Metals. (Read more)